If sited in the correct locations, around eight 1,200 MW offshore wind farms could be connected to the New England grid and operate simultaneously at full power without first constructing new transmission infrastructure and without significant curtailment, said a Friday report from ISO New England.
ISO-NE’s analysis found that up to 38% of existing major coastal substations in New England that it studied “may be electrically suitable for a 1,200 MW offshore wind interconnection without constructing any new transmission infrastructure and without upgrading any existing transmission infrastructure to address thermal concerns.”
Up to 86% of the substations studied may be suitable for connection without new infrastructure, but some of them would require upgrades, said the regional transmission organization.
The analysis also found that “a much smaller subset of these substations may be able to accommodate a 2,000 MW wind farm without any new transmission infrastructure.”
However, ISO-NE said, this report is “based solely on N-1 DC thermal steady-state analysis, which helps provide high-level information about system constraints” and neither the initial study nor this offshore wind-specific analysis included “the more detailed analyses” of a full interconnection study.
“Though full interconnection studies are required, high-level results suggest that significant amounts of offshore wind may be able to connect to the region without upgrades,” the ISO said in the report’s conclusion. “However, achieving these totals will depend on careful planning and coordination between states and stakeholders.”
This analysis indicates that relocating some offshore wind points of interconnection further south, from Maine to the Boston area, could lead to “significant cost savings,” said the report.
Even if those points of interconnection are moved, though, “upgrades are still necessary on the North-South interfaces to accommodate the combination of load growth from electrification and significant increase in generation build out in northern New England,” the report said.
However, relocating interconnections would reduce the amount of necessary transmission upgrades, and bring down costs, ISO-NE said.
“Significant cost savings can be realized if plans for offshore wind in New England take a holistic, regional view, rather than an incremental, ‘wind farm-by-wind farm’ approach,” ISO-NE wrote. “Studies like this one help the region form a more comprehensive picture of what may be possible as the clean energy transition accelerates.”
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